Honoured to be judging Film Craft at Cannes Lions this year.
Excited to meet my fellow jurors and celebrate the craft, talent and creativity behind some of the best filmmaking in the world.
See you in Cannes @cannes_lions@bigkahunafilms
Name me a city where leadership is visionary, yet grounded in humility.
Name me a city that brings together this many cultures, and makes it work.
Name me a city where people respect the law, not out of fear, but because they believe in what it stands for.
Name me a city where you feel safe, no matter what’s happening in the world around you.
Name me a city that doesn’t slow down when uncertainty hits, it simply keeps moving forward.
Name me a city that turns ambition into reality, every single day.
Name me a city that gives you room to grow, where the only pressure is to become better.
Name me a city where respect, acceptance, and coexistence are not slogans… they’re a way of life.
That’s Dubai.
I came here in 2002.
I had no idea I would end up spending nearly half my life here.
But in many ways, this city shaped the other half of who I became.
I grew here, in every sense of the word.
And like the city itself, you learn to adapt, to push forward, to keep going.
When it grows, you grow with it.
And when it’s tested, you stand by it.
Because in so many ways, it has already stood by you.
Looking back, I didn’t just spend years here, I built a life here.
And if I had to do it all over again, I’d choose it the same way.
It went from yeah sure why not, to what the hell i was thinking, to ok but never again, to well that felt good 😂. At the end, it surely was a morning well spent with great friends 🙏🏽 #hiking #tablemountainhike
50 years, gone in the blink of an eye. You grew up with the people you love most, carried memories of those you’ve lost but loved most. You buried emotions too hard to accept, then screamed in silence. Some days you succeeded, some days you failed. You found pride in certain moments and felt less proud in others. Took chances, missed a few, but never had regrets. You loved, you were loved, you were hated, didn’t waste time hating back. You stayed, you walked away, shed a tear at times, but you never looked back. You dreamt, lived, worked, believed, smiled, cared, hoped, cried and then again believed, hoped, smiled, cried, worked, cared, lived, dreamt… on random repeat.
And just like that, 50 years.. and tomorrow, the next, and the next, will be, gone too, in the blink of an eye.
Honored to have been part of an insightful panel about the future of creativity at the Athar Festival, discussing everything from the role of AI, data-driven insights, and sustainability to the importance of staying authentic in an ever-evolving digital landscape. At the core of it all, an idea is still what matters most.
Thank you to my fellow panelists and everyone who joined us for an engaging conversation. @atharfestival.sa@bigkahunafilms
